This invention relates to equipment for floor maintenance machines and, in particular, to cylindrical brush assemblies for floor maintenance machines.
Floor maintenance machines or scrubbers provide an industrial strength way to clean dirty floor surfaces. Typically, an operator directs a floor maintenance machine over the surface to be cleaned by steering or guiding the floor maintenance machine. The large rotating brushes of the floor maintenance machine directly contact the floor surface that, with the help of supplied cleaning liquid, loosen debris that is on the surface of the floor. Often, this debris is lifted from the floor and is then contained in a collection chamber on the floor maintenance machine.
The rotary brushes of these floor maintenance machines may take different forms. In some forms, the rotary brushes are axial face brushes in which the bristles are all generally parallel with the axis of brush rotation and the ends of the bristles are directed downward to contact the floor. In other forms, the rotary brushes are horizontal cylindrical brushes which rotate about an axis of rotation that is generally parallel with the surface to be cleaned. These brushes each provide a different type of cleaning action. Floor maintenance machines may incorporate one or both of these types of brushes as well as potentially other types of cleaning or scrubbing implements.
These brushes are consumable and have a limited useful life. In some instances, the brush must be discarded due to wear of the bristles and must be replaced. However, another mode of brush failure may be at the point of power transmission to the brush between the driving hub and an insert or core of the brush. For example, over time, the core of the brush or the mechanical structure supporting the bristles may become mechanically weakened by virtue of being exposed to constant and cyclic rotary forces when the brushes are driven at 750 to 1000 rotations per minute (typically). Under these stress conditions and with some side-to-side dimensional play existing between the brush and driving hub in the lateral direction, it is possible that the brush insert or core can become pre-maturely damaged, requiring replacement of the entire brush, regardless of whether or not the bristled brush section has been fully worn. As the bristled brush section is typically far more expensive than the insert or core of the brush, it is unfortunate when an entire brush (that is, the bristled brush section and core together) must be replaced as a result of the failure of solely the insert or core because most of the value of the brush is lost.
In extreme circumstances, it is even possible that the driving hub by which the brush is driven might become damaged or fatigued. Because the driving hub is not readily viewable by the user, even during replacement of a brush, any damage to the driving hub may go unnoticed if it occurs. If the driving hub becomes damaged, this can have a compounding effect and result in the further damage of the new inserts or cores of good brushes which continue to be driven by the now-damaged driving hub. If this happens, it is possible that the end user will not appreciate that the hub is damaged, but rather assume that there is something faulty with the otherwise acceptable brushes that are being supplied. Accordingly, such damage to the hub/brush interface can result in expensive repairs and unnecessary replacement of brushes.